Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

What do you think of Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition? We’d love to hear all about it! You can share your review here in the reviews thread, and on our website as well. Just pop over to the Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition page here.

Unsure how to submit a review? Please check our help article here for more information:

Remember, a lot of forum users that will be reading your review will have never played the game before. If you are posting spoilers, be sure to include the words SPOILER ALERT at the top of your post.

To help other players get the most out of your review, you can add a note stating if you played the trial or full version and how far you have gotten in the game.

If you’re experiencing technical issues with this game, be sure to head over to the support thread dedicated to the game here.

**If you are seeking game help, the best thing to do is to start a new thread in the Game Forum by clicking on 'Create New Discussion'! When starting a new discussion looking for game help, please be as descriptive as possible when creating a title for your thread.

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

I also wanted to add that this thread has been reserved for reviews only.

If you have any questions about someone else’s review (even if you feel that their review contains incorrect details about this game), please contact that user directly via PM instead of replying to or quoting their post, as this can develop into a discussion that is not suitable for the review thread.

We want to ensure that everyone who visits this thread can easily find the reviews that they’re looking for, so the Moderation Team will be removing any off-topic posts (i.e. non-reviews).

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

For years now the Awakening series has pretty much cornered the market on seriously beautiful and cute. Lately, of course, there has been some awesome inroads into their area of expertise. So I’ve been looking forward to seeing how they will handle the competition.

Well, not at all as I expected. The graphics are still gorgeous, very pretty, but not state-of-the-art. The cute offsiders are still cute (who can resist a pocket dragon? And I love the mermaid), but not exceptionally so. The puzzles are once again dazzlingly original and inventive. But they have brought back HO scenes (admittedly with unique twists), after practically abandoning them in The Skyward Castle. And the ominous feel that game had is gone.

The beginning of this series introduced us to a fairy tale world in which a beautiful princess awoke after 100 years of sleep, to discover she is the only human left. But she does have delightful companions to assist her, as she tries to discover what has happened to the rest of her race. We have followed her since this very pleasant but simple start to her adventure through 4 lands and have watched her grow and mature as her world expanded. Now, perhaps, she will finally meet the parents who so long ago left her in the Dreamless Castle, and settle down with her own people.

But this game is still pitched to grownups, and as with the story, so with the gameplay. It is logical but imaginative, and the puzzles are complex and challenging. The introduction of totally unique HO puzzles follows in the tradition of this series, which is always one step ahead of us. Also, there are still beautiful multiples of, matching pairs and other pictorial puzzles of amazing beauty. These are more difficult than those in the earlier games and also harder than the puzzles offered by games of a similar style.

It has a minimalistic jump map (no helpful information like pinpointing active areas), and a very helpful hint system in the person of a wise and knowledgeable owl.

In terms of the CE extras, we have the usual gallery items, plus achievements and morphing collectibles. The bonus chapter has the disconcerting title: “Sophia’s Friends Turn Against Her”, which is unthinkable even for a cynic like me! There is also a locked section called “Glass Works” that sounds promising.

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

The previous one in the series was rather a disappointment. It was supposed to be the happily ever after ending to the series, but it didn't quite get to that. The bonus chapter introduced new characters and suggested Sophia might be off on an entirely new adventure. Not quite the case, but if this current story doesn't get to happily ever after already, I will just scream!

Sure -- this game is good enough to purchase at half price (which you can do this week-end (8/17 - 8/18)). Its charming fairy tale is set in a colorful world of giggling flowers, and menacing elves. There's plenty to do, although you won't be stymied even in Hardest mode -- slow hint refresh, no skips, no sparkles, no guidance (oh, but there is in black bars and diary). I assume this could be a longer game. There are several achievements devoted to finishing each of the 5 main chapters in less than an hour. Pokey me was still in Chapter 1 when the demo ended.

The game is fairly linear -- each chapter will apparently take you to a new location in your attempt to help Sophia get to the Empress who can finally awaken her parents. In each chapter you will find morphing objects, solve puzzles, STDs, and interactive HOs, find and use inventory items, and ask your dragon helper to assist you with certain tasks. The quick travel map will take you back and forth quite a bit -- there are no active task indicators on hardest mode. (I don't know if that is the case for the other 2 modes.)

The diary has a brief synopsis of Sophia's story so far, so you can jump right into this game without having played the others (the best of which was #2, Moonfell Wood , IMHO). I think you will find it a pleasant activity with more to appreciate than not.

CE extras include a bonus chapter and another activity that remains a mystery until you finish the game. There is some usual other fluff as well.

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

Hmm. Not sure about this one. I own the 3 previous in this series, and I really loved the first I played, then in slightly diminishing order with the other two. This one has a kind of quaint, slight graininess to the graphics which I don't remember in the others. It fills my 23" widescreen just fine, with no bars at all. You have the owl, whose accent slips all over the place from vaguely cockney to kind of cultured English, but never finds itself anywhere and frankly, what sounds like the same woman putting on several different, generally disinterested voices. On middle level, the skip and hint buttons filled fairly quickly, the owl gives you, as usual, clear hints on what to do next, but I found some of the mini-games a bit incomprehensible, or of the type I generally hate (rotate this into that space), but at least the instructions for the mini-games were clear. In the birdcage game, I found I had to exit the mini-game several times, because I hadn't bothered to write down the key to the game, but at least the skip button continued filling even after I had exited and returned to it, which is nice. The story, well, yet another evil but well-filled out woman (all the women in this are well-filled out) in league with who knows what, is o.k., but so far nothing special. The morphing objects were fairly easy to spot, but without searching where they went and what they were, I have no idea what I was spotting, in part because, despite my fairly large widescreen, some of these items were awfully small (same problem in HOP's). I liked the HOP with the color changes, nice touch. But I'm not sure about buying this until it's an SE. I'll have to think about it. Just not blown away, but a very nice game.

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

I'm not going to go into a big long description as that's already been done by the experts - I'm just posting to say how much I LOVE the Awakening series. And I love this one also. I only saw one thing that is annoying. When you open the strategy guide and try to close it, another screen opens for all the chapters, I don't need all the chapters, if I already have advanced to where I am in the game. So you then have to close 3 screens.

Loved It? Not So Much

I will be going against the grain here. I have played all the other Awakening games and really liked them. Sadly, this one does not top my list of "must haves".

While this one still has the soothing music (perhaps a bit too soothing) and pretty colors in the scenery, the puzzles were a bit too abstract for me. I got some of them, but some of the clues for the puzzles were so obscure that I had to click the skip button in order to progress.

The map was no help at all unless you knew WHY you needed to go somewhere. And the darling little owl was not much help either in the way of hints. I asked for a hint and didn't understand it. After wandering aimlessly, I asked for another hint and got the same message. No help at all. Finally, the journal gave me a clue, but by the time I figured it out, my demo was over.

I did like the unique HO style near the beginning. However, that was not enough to convince me this was a game I had to have. Maybe I just couldn't think outside the box today, but I would have to say I can't recommend this game.

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

I have all the Awakening games, liked to play them more than once. But this game: terrible x 3!!! rate!

1) Adventure + Puzzle game! NOT HOPA! HOS appeared once in a while in certainly boring ways (find 15-17-20 of one kind, find the differences, peculiar mini games), and as less as possible.

The main tool (map) is "swallowed" totally, and as English is not my first language - I had to read many times the "bla-bla" hint, and run to the dictionary for translate. All this in so called "relaxed mode". OK, I am dumb, but I am a customer, so the justice is on my side!!!

Why this torture??? I pay good money to relax and enjoy! Instead, some very "witty" mod decided to show me how smart he is. Hardly and bad writing of the playing areas names, NO signed "possible to update" areas, forcing me to go always to the beginning of the chapter.

3) The Skip buttons are deleted from all the puzzle mini-games! That's the main "present" The Zapped mods gave me...

It's the last time that I buy this company games. I'll stay "blond", and they'll not get the money. Nothing personal, strictly business...

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

I did a beta test for this game and specifically mentioned that the puzzle instructions were completely inadequate. Pity no-one took any notice, as they have remained the same. But I have persevered and managed to solve some of them, although I skipped a few.

But overall I enjoyed the demo; it's not really a challenging game but it's beautifully done with lovely graphics and very nice voice-overs. And the cute dragon gets new abilities which come in very handy, although it would have been better if you could switch between them.

HOS are few and far between, puzzles are abundant but can be skipped. Map can be used to move between discovered areas. There are morphing objects to collect but some are not easy to find. They seem to disappear into your journal and I'm guessing you will see them in the 'Glass Works'.

Bought in the sale along with the Clockwork Tales CE; 2 CE's for the price of 2 SE's will do very nicely, thank you

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

I will have to agree. This game in the series was not up to the usual Awakening standard. The puzzles, even on Dreadmyre (the hardest), were way too easy. And what happened to the multiple levels on the puzzles? In the previous games, You had to complete at least 3 levels to get the item. Most of the puzzles in this one were 1 level and many times the logical sequence was rather confusing. I found myself using Ran, the owl, more than I normally do. The puzzles did not seem to increase in difficulty throughout the game.

Review: Possible spoiler

Not really into the mini-games. Nearly always I can't figure them out, and end up waiting for the skip button to load. Makes me feel pretty stupid. I got through the rest of the game without using hints, which makes me feel smart. Don't want to spoil, but our quest isn't over.
I loved games 1, 2, and 3. But the last one and this one, not so much. Don't hate them, just liked the others better.
I loved the Glass Works puzzles that you get to do after finishing game and bonus. Kind of reminds me of Patchworks, which I love for relaxation.

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

The last Awakening really annoyed me in that it strongly suggested an end to this series and then failed to deliver. These games are starting to remind me of the never-ending Puppet Show! I found this one to actually be a step back from the last one in terms of artwork and just the general appearance. The mini-games had terrible instructions and HO scenes seem to be making a come-back (they were pretty scarce in the last one). I will probably get this one, if only to hopefully finish the series, but it will be as a SE; I simply don't think this one is worth the extra money for a CE. I know, there is a sale this weekend; unfortunately I can't find another CE that I think would be worth it. Not a good week for games, hopefully next week will be better. JMHO, try this one yourself. Maybe I'm just tired of this particular series...........

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

Awakening and Echoes series must have been twins, These developers are always on the get go, sharp, with nice ideas, similar different, Try as u might u cant spot the differences, until SURPRISE! Each storyline is a continuation of sorts, and more fants scenery more things to do. Again similar parts, dragon (oh....so cute!) interactive map (3d), interactive HOS, interactive scenery (so much fun).

Fants scenery 3d, colorful, life like. Its more same, some different, and MORE MORE fun! Another CE worth your purse or your scales in equivalent

BUY the echoes and this and take a leave, go play then go back to work

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

As many other players I too have played all the previous "Awakenings" and although I really liked them, I can't say I was their biggest fun exactly. And then "Sunhook Spire" came along and what a delightful surprise it was! This is a truly, truly remarkable game made with great care from the developer, something I really appreciate in a game as it shows respect to the player/customer. Sure it has some drawbacks, like every other game or at least most of them, but in its entirety it is a great game. Unlike some other reviewers, I believe that this is the best one from the series so far.

The graphics are mesmerizing. Colorful, vibrant, a bit surreal, let's not forget that this is a fairytale, very clear and perspicuous. Actually this last one was a pleasant surprise for me as in all previous "Awakenings" the graphics were somewhat fuzzy. I don't know if it's due to the developer or the new laptop but something definitely has changed for the better this time. Music is peaceful and serene, fits the game properly, environmental sound and sound effects are fabulous and voice overs are nicely done. There are cut scenes of course and some talking from the heroes, not dialogue, but they do not distract you from the game as they are very short and they appear only when necessary.

The game is pretty lengthy, it has 6 chapters actually, including the bonus chapter, and it's loaded with tasks and things to do. It has the known bonus material, collectibles, achievements, some of them are pretty hard to get, plus a bonus feature called "Glassworks" which you can unlock after completing the game. I really had fun with that.

What really impressed me with this game was the inventiveness and the imagination in most of the hidden object scenes. So ingenious and resourceful and so different from those that we have been accustomed to play. But what really ravished me, was the way with which this game is structured. It doesn't confuse you, it doesn't have too much running back and forth in vain, while playing it gives you the sense that you actually have a reason to play and a purpose to fulfill, therefore it flows so smoothly and so congenially. And that's something I really do appreciate in a game. Of course sometimes you can't figure out the next step but the little owl which serves as a hint, is very helpful. continues

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

continues On the other hand now, the map is not much of a help, unless you want to jump from one area to another. As already mentioned some puzzles and mini games don't have clear instructions, by the way puzzles vary from easy to quite challenging, and that's something that developers could have been a little more vigilant with. And finally, and that's my biggest complaint, the strategy guide is dysfunctional and needs radical changes.

The ending of the game and I hope I'm not spoiling anything, leaves us with the impression that another sequel is coming up in the future. Well, maybe they have to give this a little thought, I mean whether it's time for a company to stop a particular series or not, but if the next one is going to be as great as this one, I will be more than happy to welcome it as well. Congratulations developers.

PS1: I'm sorry if I tired you but I really felt the need to write some things as I've read many inaccurate comments about this game. No! BoomZap didn't pay me! By the way, where is BoomZap?

PS2: Thank you Big Fish for yet another great weekend offer, I you, and I'm staying with you despite all the turbulence now and then.

Re:Reviews for Awakening: The Sunhook Spire Collector's Edition

It's a very pretty game, as were all the others, but I'm certainly happy I took advantage of a good sale to purchase it. Many of the puzzles are either mind numbingly simple or incomprehensible. I also see little logic in some of the required actions like setting a cane on fire. I'm determined to play until the end, hoping there actually is an ending and not another cliff hanger. Had I paid full price for the CE, I'd be kicking myself.